Obama Authorises Plans to Double Number of US Troops in Iraq
It’s beginning to feel a lot like permawar.
President Barack Obama has authorised US generals to more than double America’s troop deployment to Iraq in a significant escalation of the campaign against the Islamic State.
The Pentagon said Mr Obama had approved plans to send an additional 1,500 soldiers to Iraq on top of the 1,400 already deployed on a mission to train and support the country’s military.
The plan would mean nearly 3,000 US troops stationed in Iraq three years after the last soldiers withdrew in December 2011, in what was supposed to be the end of the war that began in 2003.
Although none of the Americans are being deployed in a combat role, the the expanded troop deployment is likely to raise cries of “mission creep” from sceptics of Mr Obama’s strategy for combating Isil.
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